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Please see below for details on the up-coming symposium on the Notting Hill Carnival. Please note although the symposium is free places are limited so book your place asap.

Location: King' s College
When: 25/10/2012 (09:00-16:00)
Contact: Please email Nicole Ferdinand at [log in to unmask] to book your place and to receive updates on the symposium.

Entrepreneurial Legacies of the Notting Hill Carnival: A one day symposium

Despite attracting an audience of over 2 million and being dubbed Europe’s largest street party, the Notting Hill Carnival, like other Caribbean carnivals staged throughout the world, has been plagued by financial difficulties and a steady stream of criticism in the media arising from festival organizers’ alleged lack of entrepreneurial and organizational skills. This type of discourse is also replicated within academic literature.

This symposium challenges the current consensus discourse both in popular media and within academia which suggests that the cultural entrepreneurs behind the Notting Hill Carnival, whilst being individuals of great creativity, lack entrepreneurial ability. It seeks to engage a range of cultural entrepreneurs including sound systems, steel bands, calypso singers, costume designers and event organizers to paint a picture of an innovative, highly sophisticated group of entrepreneurs who despite access to limited resources has managed to create a complex cultural production system.

The Programme includes in-depth panel discussions with experts in:
• Cultural networks
• Black and ethnic minority businesses
• Urban/underground cultures
• Festival evaluation
• Social media

See http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/cmci/eventrecords/carnival.aspx  for more.